DX Freight hub battle is over at long last after appeal is withdrawn

The scheme, which was earmarked for a 40-acre site off Hobnock Road, Essington, has prompted outrage in the village for 18 months in a stand-off that has rumbled on.

Various demonstrations have been held by outraged residents calling on their neighbours to rally against the plans, which they claim would have been innapropriate for green belt land, as well as increasing traffic, lorry pollution and noise in the area.

Less than a year after South Staffordshire Council refused DX Freight’s £36 million bid to relocate its base at Willenhall to a 44-acre site in Hobnock Road, Essington, the authority refused scaled-down plans in February this year.

A public inquiry was scheduled to start on September 5 after the company appealed the first refusal, however the authority now says DX 'does not plan to take any further action regarding this site and will look for an alternative elsewhere.

Essington ward Councillor David Clifft, who has stood side-by-side with residents in their fight, said: "I am just absolutely overjoyed at this, this is something that has gone on for so long and residents have faced so many challenges.

"It has been an excellent campaign from residents, which just shows what people can do when they put their minds together.

"A lot of people said before the first application that money had spoken and this was a done deal, which they said again with the second application.

"This proves that money doesn't talk when people work together for what they think is right for their community and I hope other communities can look at what we have done and take heart."

The move would have secured the firm’s 550 jobs – which were set to move from DX’s base in Willenhall to the new centre – as well as create dozens more positions.

Other benefits touted included £150,000 to be invested in improving local roads, £271,000 set aside to maintain the development as well as the creation of a wildflower meadow on part of the land which had originally been earmarked for a ‘phase 2’ expansion in the future.

Tension mounted as members of the planning committee registered their votes electronically at a public meeting on February 28 regarding the site.

And cheers went up from the dozens of residents who had boarded a coach to pack out the council chamber in Codsall, when the result went emphatically in their favour – 25 votes against the plans, 15 in favour, with one abstention.

The decision defied recommendations from council officers who recommended approval, with the overwhelming argument voiced from councillors on the night being that the scheme was ‘inappropriate development’ in the green belt.